Calif. principal guilty of failing to report abuse

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury on Monday convicted a former San Jose principal of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a child by a teacher.

Lyn Vijayendran, 36, was found guilty of the misdemeanor after jurors deliberated for two days.

A judge then sentenced the former principal of O.B. Whaley Elementary School to two years of probation, $602 in fines and 100 hours of community service, which likely will involve training other educators in the proper reporting of suspected child abuse, the San Jose Mercury News reported (http://bit.ly/VvJK9G ).

"I agree with the jury's verdict," Santa Clara County Judge Deborah Ryan told a tearful Vijayendran. "You did what you thought was right, but I don't think it was objectively reasonable at the time.

"I know it will have far-reaching consequences for your career. I do think you made a very bad judgment that day," the judge said.

State law requires principals, teachers and others who come into contact with children to report suspected child abuse. Vijayendran was reassigned to the district office as a coordinator of teacher support programs.

After Vijayendran's sentencing, Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Alison Filo said Monday that the former principal simply did not meet her obligation as an educator and testified so during the weeklong trial.

"We hope that mandatory reporters in our community understand their basic obligation to contact law enforcement every time they so much as suspect that a child has been harmed," Filo said. "In the words of (Vijayendran), 'I would have been crazy not to realize that this child was describing a sex act.' Getting talked out of that reasonable suspicion by her own inadequate investigation just isn't a defense."

The case is the second time in two decades that Santa Clara County prosecutors have charged an educator with failing to fulfill their legal obligation to call authorities when they have a "reasonable suspicion" that a child has been abused.

Vijayendran testified Thursday that teacher Craig Chandler appeared forthright when he told her an incident during which he allegedly blindfolded a second-grade girl and put something in her mouth was part of a lesson plan about Helen Keller.

Vijayendran's previous handwritten and typed notes say the second-grader told the principal in front of her mother that Chandler made her lie down on the classroom floor, touched her feet with something that felt like a tongue and put something in the 8-year-old's mouth that tasted like a salty liquid while she was blindfolded and alone with him in a classroom.

The notes also said Chandler wiggled her body and head back and forth and asked her earlier to open her legs.

Chandler is facing charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts on five children. A crime lab allegedly found his semen on a classroom chair.

He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 5.

After Vijayendran was sentenced Monday, juror Susan LaGaffa said that the ex-principal "stuck her head in the sand rather than pull the alarm. I think she didn't want this ugly thing to be true."

Another juror, Christina Rodriguez said, "There's a lot more people to be blamed for this. She's a good person — we all saw that."